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Teamsters Picket Republic/Allied Waste

A Teamsters picket line demonstration is planned for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 24th at 3840 Homewood to protest issues sanitation workers are having with Republic/Allied Waste over retirement security and respect on the job.

Workers are most concerned with Republic/Allied's proposal to replace their defined-benefit pension with a 401K plan. Republic/Allied services all of Germantown and Collierville, as well as Memphis-area businesses.

Teamsters Local 984 says Republic/Allied has been flying in dozens of supervisors and non-union drivers from across the country to show Memphis workers that garbage pickup will continue even if the company locks out workers. The company has promised there will be no interruption in service for its customers.

According to one worker, who wished to remain anonymous, "The company is making us train them, but they don't know our routes. ... From where I sit, it looks like the company is more interested in throwing us to the curb than they are in taking care of customers and the community."

Eighty Republic/Allied workers were locked out for six weeks in a similar situation in Evansville, Indiana in May.